Spain mayor turns into 'Robin Hood'
Source: Agencies |
August 16, 2012, Thursday
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A SPANISH mayor who became a cult hero for staging robberies at supermarkets and giving stolen groceries to the poor sets off this week on a three-week march that could embarrass the government.
Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo, regional lawmaker and mayor of the town of Marinaleda in the southern region of Andalusia, said food stolen last week in the robberies went to families hit hardest by Spain's economic crisis.
Seven people have been arrested for participating in the two raids, in which labor unionists piled food into supermarket carts and walked out without paying while Sanchez Gordillo, 59, stood outside.
He has political immunity as an elected member of Andalusia's regional parliament, but says he would be happy to renounce it and be arrested. Sanchez Gordillo says he wants to draw attention to the human face of Spain's economic mess - poverty levels have risen by over 15 percent since 2007.
The conservative government says an official has no business flouting the law. "You can't be Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham," said Alfonso Alonso, spokesman for the People's Party.
Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo, regional lawmaker and mayor of the town of Marinaleda in the southern region of Andalusia, said food stolen last week in the robberies went to families hit hardest by Spain's economic crisis.
Seven people have been arrested for participating in the two raids, in which labor unionists piled food into supermarket carts and walked out without paying while Sanchez Gordillo, 59, stood outside.
He has political immunity as an elected member of Andalusia's regional parliament, but says he would be happy to renounce it and be arrested. Sanchez Gordillo says he wants to draw attention to the human face of Spain's economic mess - poverty levels have risen by over 15 percent since 2007.
The conservative government says an official has no business flouting the law. "You can't be Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham," said Alfonso Alonso, spokesman for the People's Party.
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